PAX 21

I skimmed through what Kitae hyung had been writing. After closing time, Kitae hyung writes a diary about that day’s business. Things like what kind of customers came in, what happened, and so on. Even though it is a diary, since he doesn’t say anything when I read it, I just read it openly now.

It seems a decent number of customers came today, too. They say word of a “hidden gem” spreads through the mouths of tourists traveling to and from the Nagon District, so some people even go as far as coming all the way here just to eat dumplings.

Since it is a place that is not too far from the Nagon District but is at a reasonable distance, it is not a location people would be very averse to, and because it is on the side of a national highway, it is a place you can stop by without difficulty if you have a car.

On days when there are tours of the Nagon District, Go Yeonhyung, a tour guide who is close with Kitae hyung, guides the tourists to “Chorok” without fail, guaranteeing sales. People don’t even think that Kitae hyung is a second-generation Nagon District resident; they just think he is a slightly peculiar, free-spirited soul who settled down and opened a restaurant in a place like this.

Of course, if someone asks openly, Go Yeonhyung introduces Kitae hyung as an outsider. And if someone asks Kitae hyung directly, he roughly brushes it off by saying, “We are all from Earth.”

Perhaps due to the stereotype about Nagon District residents having gloomy and dark personalities, people seem to just think of Kitae hyung, who talks nonsense like that, as an outsider and let it go.

“It worked out well. I was wondering what to do with the bit left over.”

Kitae hyung brought the steamer and set it down on one side. There were three or four meat dumplings and kimchi dumplings each, steaming hot. I picked up one meat dumpling, which had thin skin and was packed with filling, and ate it while blowing on it.

Kitae hyung started writing in his diary again while gnawing on a chicken leg. When fried crumbs fell onto the notebook, he wiped them away roughly with his greasy hand and kept writing. The notebook was soon stained and splotchy. Watching that nonchalant movement, I ate the chicken and dumplings.

I like the fact that when I am with Kitae hyung, I don’t have to struggle to hold a conversation.

“Looks like business was good today.”

Even when I ask something I’m not particularly curious about out of courtesy,

“It wasn’t bad.”

Kitae hyung answers indifferently and just goes about his business. Then I just have to shut up and keep eating well.

However, I wanted to talk about something today.

“I heard Ahn Juik-nim has a son?”

I went straight to the point. Kitae hyung is not the type of person to find this method difficult.

“Uh, he does. A son living in Seoul.”

Kitae hyung nodded while continuing to write something.

“Have you seen him?”

“Me? A few times on the street when I lived in the Nagon District?”

“Ah, really?”

“I saw him when he was very young. He was…”

Kitae hyung stopped writing and stared off into space, as if searching his memory.

“Was he eight? Seven? That was around the time he went to Seoul, so before that, I saw him walking on the street a few times. Since a guard was always stuck right next to the little kid, he stood out.”

“Then, has he just been living in Seoul ever since? Not coming back?”

“Hey, what would he come back for? The Chief must have even changed his ID to look nice before sending him off. Since he went when he was so young, he’s probably mixing in and living just fine without any trouble, right? There’s no reason to return.”

That is what I find puzzling, too. Why on earth are they trying to come back?

“They say he’s just a Seoul person.”

Kitae hyung, who had stood up while saying that in a singing tone, went to the refrigerator while singing a song that included lyrics about Seoul or something. Kitae hyung brought a pitcher he had taken out of the refrigerator and poured cold green tea into a cup for me.

“He’s a Seoul person whose life blossomed after meeting a good father.”

Kitae hyung kept humming while gnawing on a piece of chicken.

I thought about Kitae hyung’s past and present anew. Kitae hyung is someone who turned his back on the Nagon District, shuddering at the guards. He even cut ties with his mother and his own brother, who are the type loyal to the Guardians. He said he decided to leave after watching the incident where the Nagon District Discrimination Abolition Alliance was formed mainly by second-generation residents in the Nagon District, caused friction with the Guardians, and then all the members of the alliance were expelled.

Although he lived as a drifter here and there, Kitae hyung eventually came to this place not far from the Nagon District, opened a restaurant, and set up a house. Even though he had his restaurant entrance forbidden and was forced to pay security taxes and stall fees to the guards who protested his presence, and eventually had no choice but to pay those fees after a series of tyrannical acts by the guards, he says he keeps staying here because he can sometimes meet residents who visit in secret. He seems satisfied with being close to his best friend, Go Yeonhyung, in particular.

The second-generation residents who occasionally stop by “Chorok” all come secretly while looking out for the Guardians, but Go Yeonhyung comes and goes relatively freely. Is it because he is a person who contributes to letting the outside world know only the good sides of the Nagon District as a tour guide? The Guardians seem to turn a blind eye to the friendship between Go Yeonhyung and Kitae hyung.

Even though guards still come by often to pick fights, break fixtures, and steal food, Kitae hyung puts up with it. It was Kitae hyung who said he named the restaurant “Chorok” (Green) because it is the complementary color of purple, the skin color of the Nagon District infected. Even while shuddering at certain parts of the Nagon District to that extent, Kitae hyung still lives here.

What is the relationship between the second-generation residents and the Nagon District? I recalled something I hadn’t paid deep attention to even once while frequenting the Nagon District. Unlike the infected who never go out of the Nagon District at all because their identities are immediately exposed due to their skin color, the second-generation residents have skin colors no different from outsiders, allowing them to move about freely. The second-generation residents who are helplessly exposed to the everyday hatred and derogatory remarks of outsiders regarding Nagon District residents. The second-generation residents who, even if they can pretend otherwise, have it clearly stated on paper that they are from the Nagon District anyway. The second-generation residents for whom it is obvious that it will be difficult to make outsider friends and get hired at outsider businesses.

Well. Even amidst all that, there must be some second-generation residents who are living well without returning to the Nagon District. There must be some who have succeeded in completely changing their identities after earning money. It’s just that we don’t know because there’s no way to hear news of them in the Nagon District.

And Ahn Yutan must have been living well in Seoul for such a long time, too.

Why, then.

“Did you go to the hospital?”

I broke out of my thoughts at Kitae hyung’s words. Kitae hyung gestured at my arm. I hadn’t gone to the hospital, but I roughly nodded.

“Has it been over a week? Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you tell the Chiefs, too?”

“Yeah.”

Though I didn’t tell them I was grazed by a bullet.

Kitae hyung, who had only his eyes exposed above the cup while drinking cold green tea, stared at me quietly.

“But what neighborhood is it?”

“What are you going to do if you know?”

“I have to know where it is so I can be careful too. How dangerous is it if there are kids shooting guns on the streets?”

A dry laugh escaped me.

“It’s a neighborhood you don’t even have any reason to go to.”

“Is there any neighborhood a wanderer like me wouldn’t have a reason to go to?”

“What kind of wanderer are you when you even have a house right behind the restaurant?”

“I am someone who drifts with the wind, with the clouds….”

Kitae hyung trailed off, then suddenly started tapping the edge of the table and began to sing. It was a song—about wandering or something—where I couldn’t tell if it actually existed or if he was making it up on the spot. All the songs Kitae hyung sings are like that anyway.

I sipped the cold green tea while listening to the melodic song.

Then, suddenly, my attention was pulled in one direction. Outside “Chorok,” somewhere… the sound of a hornet buzzing.

The sound wasn’t passing along the road that stretched out in front of “Chorok” but was stopped in one place. Buzz, buzz, buzzzz, buzz, right there in one spot outside.

I put down the cup and stood up stealthily. Kitae hyung was deep into his song, eyes closed and head swaying slightly.

While walking toward the window attached to the side of the entrance, the “Chorok” yard was visible through the glass. And the purple Porsche as well.

With its headlights shining brightly, it was just sitting flat in the middle of the yard. Occasionally making that buzzing sound.

The someone inside, who must have been making that sound playfully, was completely invisible. No one got out of the car, and they weren’t sending any kind of signals with the lights either.

I stood in front of the window and watched the Porsche. With the headlights being two shining eyes and the grille below looking like a mouth stretched long to the side, it had an appearance that reminded me of a wicked frog.

Is it Ahn Yutan, or is it one of the two guards?